The story of two not-so-new-anymore dog owners and an extremely cute (new to the city of Toronto) beagle named Duke.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Keep ex-working dogs happy - by keeping them working!

We had a chance to check out The Superdogs (http://www.superdogs.com/) at the CNE and one thing we noticed was that the working dog breeds (Border Collies especially) seemed to really, really get excited about performing.

This got us thinking about Duke. Our boy is 4 years old now and spent 3 years of his life as working dog. He lived in an outdoor kennel and was never obedience trained and he was only used for hunting.

I've noticed that when we go for walks, the more and more I practice obedience lessons with him on the street, the more focused and responsive and well behaved he is. I think he loves being told to sit, heel, stay, come, and rewarded.

Duke is most happy when he's working, and even though he's retired from hunting, he's got a new job now!